Multifamily Developer Adds Staff, Continues Growth

Centerline Capital Group has promoted Darrell Clark to regional director for the Western region, where he will primarily be responsible for originating Fannie Mae Small Loan transactions in California and Arizona.

Clark has been with Centerline since January 2010. As an underwriter he brings to the origination team 10 years of nationwide Fannie Mae experience as well as experience in both credit and relationship building areas, says Rick Warren, head of the small commercial mortgage loan division at Centerline that provides loans between $1 and $5 million.

His addition is part of the New York-based national real estate finance and asset management firm’s restructuring. In 2013, Centerline was acquired by Hunt Companies Inc., a national developer, investor and real estate manager founded in 1947 in El Paso, Texas, which together with its affiliates manages $24.8 billion in assets including 278,408 multifamily housing units.

At yearend, Hunt named Robert Wrzosek president of the mortgage lending business. Wrzosek is an experienced lawyer who specializes in both the primary and secondary mortgage market.

Mortgage market experience is the value asset both companies have been looking for “as we integrate Centerline with the Hunt family of companies,” noted Chris Hunt, president and COO of Hunt. The firm services more than $12.2 billion in loans, of which $3.1 billion is Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. During 2013 it has invested aggressively in many areas of the country.

For example, a $3.4 million Fannie Mae DUS loan to refinance a multifamily facility located in Silver Spring, Md., was one of the deals where the borrower opted to replace their existing non-maturing loan with a new loan at a lower interest rate, explains Bryan Cullen, director at Centerline.

“Utilizing Fannie’s Early Rate Lock program, we were able to lower their debt service by $35,000 a year while maintaining an amortization of the loan in 2028,” Cullen says.